New Delhi, May 22 -- In two major operations on May 21 and earlier in the week in the North East region, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI)'s Guwahati Zonal Unit has seized a large quantity of around 60,000 kg of smuggled foreign-origin areca nuts, the Ministry of Finance said.

Acting on specific intelligence, DRI conducted operations in Mizoram and Assam, leading to these seizures.

According to the Ministry of Finance release on Friday, initial investigations revealed that foreign-origin dried areca nuts were smuggled into India from Myanmar through the Myanmar-Mizoram border.

In one of the operations, the DRI was assisted by the 38 Battalion of the Assam Rifles. So far, five people have been arrested in connection with the...